In the kitchen at Powell Middle School, school staff members and members of the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce work diligently to prepare lunch ahead of the rush for the third annual Farm to School Day on Oct. 7. On the menu are pulled pork sandwiches with no-bake oat cookies, all supplied by local producers. 

The pork for the October event was sourced from Jose’s Meat Processing on Lane 8 north of Powell and the wheat for the buns farmed by Wyoming Heritage Grains outside of Ralston and baked by chamber members. The lettuce for chef salads was grown hydroponically in Greybull, oats for the cookies cultivated in Powell and all the vegetables for toppings, ranging from peppers, chives, potatoes and carrots, were also produced in the area.

At the heart of the operation is the district’s food director, Savannah Layland, who is based out of the PMS kitchen due to its size, central location and suite of equipment.

“I consider this year’s Farm to School Day a success not only because of the food we were able to serve, but because of the connections it helps strengthen between our students, our schools and our local agricultural community,” Layland said. 

“One of the most meaningful parts of this work is seeing how our community continues to show up for our students. We are supporting local agriculture, creating opportunities for students to try foods they may not otherwise experience and reminding them that the people who grow and raise our food are part of their community.”

Wyoming’s Farm to School Day is part of a broader, national initiative under the Department of Agriculture, designed to foster cooperation between local producers and school food service programs. It is one of the most visible examples of the recent push to see more locally produced foods brought to local institutions. The program works in large part due to the efforts of two volunteers whose mission in the area is to develop the framework needed to see the development of local food resilience.

A VISTA for change

The organization that serves as the bridge between institutions and producers has been the Powell Economic Partnership, which has managed the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce since 2017. One of the core missions of PEP has been to build capacity to combat food insecurity through a partnership with AmeriCorps to bridge the difficulty many Big Horn Basin residents have in maintaining year-round access to quality food.

Similar in mission to the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps is an independent federal agency that engages in domestic public service and volunteerism to support local communities. Within that framework is the Volunteers in Service to America program, or VISTA, which places participants in communities to focus on developing systems that are designed to combat poverty in communities across the country. 

Currently, two members of the VISTA program work alongside PEP to focus specifically on food access in the area: Local farm foods coordinator Isabelle Foster and food security educator Sophie Alden.

Foster is in her second year-long term as a VISTA coordinator, relocating to Powell in June 2025 from a community-service agricultural farm in Pennsylvania that provided produce pickups and farm work for individuals with learning or physical disabilities. Her main project has been the development of a planned, local food hub designed to help connect area producers with institutional buyers in a way that is equitable for everyone.

Foster described the planned food hub as more than just a physical space where products from local producers would be aggregated. The school district, for example, would place a bid for its needs through a framework being developed. A farmer could accept that bid, produce would be aggregated at the hub and then distributed to the district.

“Our jobs would basically be to remove the hurdles that are in place by time, capacity and distribution. The school can’t do that themselves, they don't have the capacity or the producer connections,” Foster said. “But if we had an entity that was in charge of managing that, it would make it a lot easier for them to bring local foods to the schools.”

The initial plan for the hub is to focus on fresh produce specifically, as meat requires additional food-safety requirements and buyer specifications. Schools and hospitals serve as a practical starting point due to their consistent, recurring demand, though Foster wants to see the hub project eventually serve other food access organizations like Powell Valley Loaves and Fishes and the American Legion’s food program. 

Foster also expressed interest in possibly providing a communal, commercial kitchen in the hub to process produce for institutional buyers, or rented as shared space for local food businesses and individuals, though she cautioned this addition would add substantial costs.

“There’s lots of different things that can go into a food hub depending on what the community sees as being important or sees as their big needs,” Foster said. “[Food hubs] are very customizable and can be developed for the situation. I think the big thing is just understanding what the needs and demands are in the community, where the gaps are, and then what would make the hub the most workable it could be.”

While the plan is still in its infancy, the goal is to complete a business plan that can be handed off to a community group or business to operate, as PEP lacks the logistical and organizational capacity to maintain the hub. Foster stressed the need for input from residents and producers in the process.

“We can’t address issues we don’t know about and we want it to benefit the most people that we’re able to benefit," Foster said. “The more people who are willing to come talk to us and share with us what they need, the easier it’ll be to implement solutions and be better able to encompass everyone in the community.”

Next steps

Beyond Farm to School Day, Layland said local operations have stepped up their donations to continue to make a difference in school lunches. A local family recently donated a pig that will be made into Italian sausage for an upcoming spaghetti recipe they’ll be using, while Switchback Ranch in the Sunlight Basin area is in the process of donating half a beef carcass which Layland says will provide enough meat for an entire lunch across the district.

“These generous donations mean so much to our program,” Layland said. “Every time a student tries a new locally grown food, learns where it came from or discovers that what is on their tray was raised right here in our community, we are accomplishing something meaningful.”

Food insecurity does not solely extend to institutional struggle, and as the cost of living continues to rise in the Big Horn Basin, more individuals are susceptible than at any other point in recent memory.

See next week's Powell Tribune for part two.